Recoil and counterrecoil mechanism for guns



March 8, 1932. I M BARNES 1,848,304

RECOIL AND COUNTERRECOIL MECHANISM FOR GUNS Filed Sept. 21, 1931 IN VEN TOR.

I H as 5 34 EladaunMEmrnez-z L; ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 8, 1932 GLADEON M. BARNES, OF THE .UN'ITED STATES ARMY, HASTINGS, MICHIGAN RECOIL AND COUNTEBREGOIL MECHANISM FOR GUNS Application filed September 21, 1931.

Serial No. 564,058.

(GRANTED UNDER THE ACT OF MARCH 3, 1883, AS AMENDED APRILBO, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to recoil and coun terrecoil mechanism for guns and, more particularly, it has reference to that class of guns wherein a portion of the powder gases of discharge are utilized for retarding the recoil movement of the gun, being compressed in this operation and made available for restoring the gun to battery.

The principal objects of the present invention are to provide novel means for regulating the length of the recoil and the speed of counterrecoil and for automatically opening the gas inlet valves at the termination of the counterrecoil stroke. A further object is to provide an arrangement whereby the valves may be readily removed as a unit.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of elements described hereinafter and pointed out in the claims forming a part of this specification.

A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in section of a gun exemplifying the principles of the invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are longitudinal sectional views of the valves.

Referrin to Fig. 1, there is shown a gun 5 mounted in a cradle 6 for movement in recoil and counter-recoil. Attached to the gun for movement therewith are a plurality of cylinders, in the present instance, two being.

shown and comprising a main recoil cylinder 7 and an auxiliary reservoir cylinder 8. These cylinders are connected by a passage 9. Within the main cylinder 7 there is a piston 10 fixed to the cradle and preferably the piston head 11 is provided with a valved passage 12 as shown in my prior Patent No. 1,808,097

.to permit a pressure medium to enter the low pressure side or buffer chamber 13 where it is permitted to escape through an adjust able relief valve 14.

The pressure medium consists of a portion Referring toFig. 2 the housing 17 for the valve 16 is arranged to be threaded into the valve block 18 sothat it may be removed without difiiculty for the purpose of cleaning, grinding, or replacing the parts. The valve 16 is threaded into a nut 19 that is free to move axially of the housing but is held against rotation by means of a pin 20. A spring 21 confined between the nut and a guide collar 22 fixed to the housing serves to normally maintain the valve in an open position clear ofthe valve seat 23. r

A gear wheel 24: is splined on the outer end of the valve stem and is confined between the guide collar, 22 and a guide plate 25. The plate 25 is retained in place by ashort cylinder 26 threadedly secured to the valve housing. Within the cylinder is a piston 27 whose stem is slidable in the guide plate 25 and adapted to contact the end of the valve stem. The head of the piston is of larger area than the head of the valve 16'.

The tube 28 establishes fluid communication between the cylinder 26 and the main recoil cylinder 7 The tube enters the cylinder 7 on the high pressure side of the piston head 11. the distance between the point of entry and the piston head being equal to the distance through which the gun will re coil during the time the projectile is in the bore. The purpose of this arrangement will appear in the description of the operation of the mechanism.

--Referring, to Figs. 1 and 3, the valve 29 is interposed in the passage 9 adjacent the. inlet to the reservoir cylinder 8. This valve is mounted in a housing 30 in a manner similar to the valve 16. It is threaded into a slidable nut 31 and is maintained in the normally open position by the spring 32. A gear 33 splined on the rear end of the valve provides for its rotation relative to the nut.

The valve29 is provided with a chamber 34 having a port 35 opening into the passage 9 and a port 36 leading to the reservoir cylthepowder gases of discharge which in inder 8.- A needle valve 37 has a threaded connection 38 with the valve 29 whereby it may be advanced or retracted to regulate the size of the port 36. Gearing 39 on the needle valve as well as the gear 24 and 33 are preferably controlled in a well known manner when the cradle is elevated, the purpose being to effect adjustment and regulate the length of recoil according to the elevation of the gun. Such a control is illustrated for example in my copending application, Serial No. 501,322 of December 10, 1930.

In operation, When the gun is fired a portion of the rapidly expanding gases of discharge will be delivered through the passage 15 and past the valve 16 when they will be free to flow into the main cylinder 7'and reservoir cylinder 8 which by reason of their attachment to the gun are partaking of the recoil movement. During the initial stage of recoil the pressure in the cylinder 7 exceeds the rapidly decreasing pressure in the bore of the gun and effects the closing ofthe valve 16.1 Thereafter as the forward end of the 'main cylinder approaches the piston head 11 the gases in this cylinder are forced through the passage 9' and into the reservoir cylinder, the resulting compression of the gases acting to yieldingly check the recoil of the gun. Some of the gases pass through the valved passage 12 and enter the butter chamber 13. When the gun is at full recoil, practically all of the gases in the system have been forced into the reservoir cylinder.

The length of'recoil varies in proportion to the initial gas volume in the system. By

virtue of the arrangement herein disclosed the effective initial volume may be readily varied by operating the valve 28 to regulate the admission of gases to the reservoir cylinder. The valve isclosed for a short recoil, fully open for a long recoil, and partially open for intermediatelengths of recoil.

.When the gun commences to move in counQ terrecoil the pressure in the main cylinder 7 will decrease and the gases in the reservoir cylinder will tend to flow back into themain cylinder. The gases acting, on the head of the valve 28 will force it to closed position.

and consequently further escape of the gases must occur past the adjustable needle valve 37. By adjusting the setting of the needle valve the speed of the gun in counterrecoil may be controlled. i

The method of automatically opening the valve 16. when .th-elgun has returned to battery'maybe readily understood by reference to Figs. 1 and 2. -As previouslystated the tube 28 enters the'main cylinder directly in front ofthe piston head 11 so that it" may be coveredv thereby before an appreciable pressure developed in the cylinder. Actually the distance between: the point of entry and the piston head is equal to the distance through which the gun will recoil while the projectile is in the bore, and consequently gases will not enter the tube 28 until the piston head has had sutficient relative movement to clear the entry to the tube. After this time the gases from the low pressure side or buffer chamber are delivered through the tube 28 into the. cylinder 26 where they act on the p1ston 27. However, during recoil the pressure is insufiicient to move the piston and with it the valve 16 for the reason the head of the iii This method of automatically opening the valve 16 may be applied to the valve 29. It

is also'to be understood that the passage 15', valve 16 and reservoir cylinder 8 may be pro-v vided in any number. I V

I claim:

1. In a reciprocating gun, a main cylinder and a reservoir cylinder movable with the gun, a passage connecting the cylinder, a stationary piston in the main cylinder, means for delivering gases of discharge to the connecting passage, avalve for regulating the delivery of gases to said passage, a valve for regulating the delivery of gases to the reservoir cylinder, a needle valve in said last mentioned valve for regulating the delivery of gases from the reservoir cylinder, and means for opening the valves on the-termina tion of the counterrecoil stroke of the gun.

2. In a reciprocating gun, a main .cylin der and a reservoir cylinder movable with the gun, a passage connecting the cylinders, a stationary piston in the maincylinder, means for delivering gases of discharge to the connecting passage, a valve for regulating the delivery of gases to' said passage, a valve for regulating the delivery of gases to the reservoir cylinder, and a needle valve in said last mentioned valve for regulating the delivery of gases from the reservoir cylinder.

3. In a reciprocating gun, a recoil and counterrecoil system comprising a plurality of connected cylinders movable with the gun,v

a stationary piston in one of the cylinders, means for delivering gases of discharge to one of the cylinders, a valve for regulating the delivery of gases to said cylinder, valve means for regulating the entry and return of gases to and from the other cylinder, and

means for openingone of the valves to vent the system.

In a reciprocating gun, a rec-oil and counterrecoil system comprising a plurality of connected cylinders movable with the gun, a stationary piston in one of the cylinders, means for delivering gases of discharge to one of the cylinders, avalve for regulating the delivery of gases to said cylinder, and valve means for regulating the entry and return of gases to and from the other cylinder.

5. In a reciprocating gun, a recoil mechanism comprising a plurality of cylinders, means for delivering gases of discharge to the cylinders, means for regulating the delivery of gases to one of said cylinders to control the length of recoil and means forregulating the return of the gases from the cylinder to control the speed of counterrecoil.

6. In. a reciprocating gun, a recoil and counterrecoil system utilizing the compressive action and reaction of the gases of discharge to check recoil and restore the gun to battery, and means operable on elevation of the gun for varying the volume of the system.

7. In a reciprocating gun, a recoil and counterrecoil system utilizing the compressive action and reaction of the gases of discharge to check recoil and restore the gun to battery, and means for varying the volume of the system.

8. In a reciprocating gun, a recoil and counterrecoil system utilizing the compressive action and reaction of the gases of discharge, a reservoir, and means for regulating the entry and return of gases to and from the reservoir.

9. In a reciprocating gun, a recoil mechanism utilizing the gases of discharge to check recoil and restore the gun to battery, a valve controlling the admission of said gases, a piston engageable with the valve and having a larger area than the valve, and means for conducting gases from the recoil mechanism to actuate the piston.

10. In a gas-operated gun, a supporting member, a valve housing threaded into the supporting member and having a gas passage, a valve slidable in the housing, a nut threaded on the valve, means for holding the nut against rotation, a spring seated on the housing and acting on the nut to normally hold the valve in an open position, a gear splined on the valve, and a piston engaging the rear end of the valve and having a larger area than the valve.

11. In a gas-operated gun, a supporting member, a valve housing threaded into the supporting member and having a gas passage, a valve slidable in the housing, a nut threaded on the valve, means for holding the nut against rotation, a spring seated on the housing and acting on the nut to normally hold the valve in an open position, and a gear splined on the valve.

12. In a gas-operated gun, a gas passage, a valve for regulating the opening of the passage, a gas passage in the valve, a needle valve for regulating the gas passage in the valve.

GLADEON M. BARNES. 

